The 2001 impact factor for Nature Neuroscience is 15.668, placing us fourth of 198 neuroscience journals listed by ISI, and first among the primary research journals. When we launched Nature Neuroscience in 1998, our stated aim was to become the leading journal in the field. We do not believe that impact factors represent a precise measure of the quality of a journal (despite the tradition of quoting them to three decimal places), and maximizing our citation numbers has never been an explicit editorial goal. Nevertheless, we are encouraged by this result, and we hope our readers and contributors will find it consistent with the journal's perceived reputation within the community that it serves.